reporter: our allegedly tragic trillion dollar annual budget deficits. swelling our supposedly unsustainable $16 trillion national debt. more borrowing, it's said, means the proverbial road to ruin. some think then that the fiscal cliff slash spending and taxes is not economic suicide but the very opposite. the last resort for avoiding a fatal whirlpool of debt. so what about more debt? will it destroy us or won't it? how bad would it be to barrel over the cliff? enter former i.m.f. economist simon johnson of m.i.t. he's written a book, white house burning, on the history of u.s. debt, its why's and wherefors and get this its considerable virtues. we asked if he could provide a tv version. the answer was a mobile history lesson. starting at the museum where every 15 minutes they re-enact the dumping that helped make a town famous and a group of contentious colonies united. so to begin you're in boston. what's your fundamental thesis? >> the american republic is born partially in a tax revolt. this is the at a party site where they threw the at a over bec